Swiss seduction of US tourists pays off

Château de Chillon on Lake Geneva is the most visited historical building in Switzerland. Keystone

More and more Americans are taking holidays in Switzerland, much to the delight of the tourism industry, which has been targeting the US market for years.

In 2023, Switzerland welcomed more American visitors than ever before. The United States has even become the second most popular source of foreign tourists after Germany. This success is no accident: for several years Switzerland Tourism has been conducting a seduction operation to attract American tourists.

Thanks to additional government funding to boost tourism after the Covid pandemic, Switzerland’s promotional body has been able to afford a Hollywood cast for its advertisements, which feature actors Anne Hathaway and Robert de Niro, half-Swiss comedian Trevor Noah and retired tennis star Roger Federer.

Holidaymakers from the United States are coveted by the tourism industry, as the return on investment is particularly attractive. The average American tourist spends CHF280 ($325) a day in Switzerland – more than twice what a German tourist spends. What’s more, they generally stay for several days in 4- or 5-star hotels. In 2023, they generated a record of more than three million overnight stays.

Switzerland Tourism’s operation therefore seems to have paid off. Even Will Smith has fallen under the Swiss spell. A video of the actor strolling through a deserted Zurich at dawn quickly went viral on social networks.

Sunday 5:30am Zurich, Switzerland. It is Gorgeous! I shall return. pic.twitter.com/w9int79V0xExternal link

— Will Smith (@WillSmith2real) August 4, 2024External link

“Everyone in the United States says Switzerland is beautiful. Everyone talks about it. We had to visit once,” Bobby, a tourist from Texas, told Swiss public television, RTS. “We’re surprised to see how clean everything is, without the huge billboards that are everywhere in Texas,” added Charleen, also from Texas.

The two Texans were part of a group of around 60 American tourists who had come to visit Glacier 3000, a godsend for the resort which, faced with competition from the Matterhorn, was struggling to capture the American market. “We used to have small groups and individual customers, but this year it’s the first time we’ve had large groups coming to Glacier 3000 from May to October,” said resort manager Bernhard Tschannen.

‘Off the beaten path’

American tourists prefer to stay in cities such as Zurich, Lucerne, Geneva or in the Zermatt region, and prefer other destinations, such as Glacier 3000, for excursions. Switzerland has carved out a place on the European holiday map for Americans, alongside Italy, France and the UK, which are still their favourite destinations.

This is precisely what convinced Lee, a tourist from South Carolina, to visit Switzerland. “I wanted to come here because Switzerland is a little bit off the beaten path for Europe,” she said during her visit to Château de Chillon, where Americans are the most numerous foreign tourists.

“We’ve seen an upward trend in recent years,” says Yannick Klein, the castle’s marketing director. “American economic growth and the dynamism of the country should also reflect this trend.” The figures for the first half of 2024 confirm that the upward trend is showing no signs of slowing down.

Translated from French by DeepL/ts